Chapter 65.2

Everything here seemed to have been frozen in an instant, becoming a specimen of ice and snow hanging upside down in the sea, silently frozen for an unknown number of years.

"Is this the season changing?" Oswald muttered in a very low voice.

The crowd kept a respectful distance of five or six meters from the beast, their footsteps too loud and chaotic to allow them to hear the beast's quiet words. Only Kevin and Sinia heard him.

The little girl turned her head sharply, her black grape-like eyes fixed on the beast. She was trying to understand why this beast could talk, and why its voice was so similar to her familiar uncle. It was almost as if she were speaking to her uncle, the emperor.

Kevin let out a thoughtful hum. "The Mirror Island created by Feisa was a curious one. It was a place where all four seasons coexisted, from the entrance to the exit. However, the area at the exit was always wintery and icy."

Oswald's eyes narrowed. "Why would someone create such an island?" he asked suspiciously.

Kevin explained that the Mirror Island represents a buffer zone for gods to introspect and purify themselves.

He further added that gods make mistakes just like humans, and sometimes their mistakes are more severe than just creating creatures with multiple legs and less brains. The gods require remediation to correct their behavior.

Kevin's explanation was not very specific, and Oswald found himself struggling to understand it.

"For example," Kevin continued, "imagine that I created you, but then I accidentally gave you a pig's brain.

"Or, imagine that I accidentally gave you eight legs and six eyes. In either case, you would be a very flawed creature, and you would need to be fixed.

It sounded like Kevin was saying that he had created Oswald, but that something had gone wrong during the process.

"The gods make mistakes all the time," Kevin said. "But their mistakes are much more serious than giving someone a pig's brain or eight legs. Their mistakes can have devastating consequences for the world."

Oswald was silent for a moment, trying to process what Kevin had said. He didn't like the analogy, but he could see how it might be relevant.

Oswald was perplexed by the Empress God's motives. Why had he brought them to this buffer zone outside the world?

He speculated that the Empress God was not as meek and reserved as he had previously thought.

Furthermore, if Oswald's memory served him correctly, it had been mentioned in a previous conversation between Kevin and the Empress God that the latter had deliberately planned to deceive more than a hundred gods into joining his camp, step by step, only then creating the so-called era of the future God.

It was inconceivable that a god who was capable of such grand schemes would simply let things go and allow the world to transition from the post-god era to the human era.

Oswald could not believe that the Empress God would simply sit back and watch as his plans were undone.

What could possibly have happened to the Empress God that would prevent him from carrying out his plans? Oswald racked his brain, but he could not come up with an answer.

"Unless..." Oswald mused, "he is unable to do so."

Kevin and Oswald's eyes met, and in that brief moment, they shared a silent understanding. Kevin raised his eyebrows and pressed his fingers to his lips, a clear signal to Oswald to keep quiet.

Oswald nodded, his eyes widening in realization. He had been right in his suspicions, and Kevin knew it too. But for some reason, Kevin was not yet ready to reveal what he knew.

Perhaps he was worried about agitating the Empress God, or perhaps he was simply enjoying keeping the Empress God guessing.

Whatever the reason, Oswald knew that Kevin was not being deliberately evasive. He was simply being cautious.

After all, on this mirror island, their every move and every communication was very likely to be seen clearly by the Empress God.

The emperor's mind wandered for a moment, his gaze lingering on Kevin's lips, which were lightly pressed by his fingers. The thin blood color contrasted starkly with the white fingers, creating a striking visual contrast.

For a moment, he even wanted to taste them again.

Kevin's raised eyebrows relaxed into a look of weary resignation as he regarded Oswald with a mixture of numbness and distress.

"I think I really need to dig out your brain to see if you misplaced it," he said.

Oswald snorted unashamedly, but his eyes flickered with something like amusement as he looked away and continued walking forward with lowered eyelids.

Oswald stood on a thick layer of ice, his breath frosting the air in front of him. He could see the outline of a winding path in the depths, and the lush tall grass on either side.

He frowned slightly as he noticed something out of the ordinary. He lowered his head and walked forward, pressing his nose against the ice to get a closer look. After a moment, he saw a pale green object looming in the tall grass.

He noticed a green, unidentified object within the grass, which turned out to be a vine with a few scattered flowers on it.

Kevin's voice rang out, cutting through the cold air like a knife. "Get out of the way," he commanded, not just to Oswald, but to the entire crowd that was following them.

As soon as the crowd dispersed, Kevin shattered a large iceberg with ease, and a spiral staircase made of snow and ice appeared.

Everyone followed Kevin down the stairs, and they saw a tall figure standing quietly with his back to them, looking at one of the giant pillars.

The figure had pitch-black hair that had grown for an unknown number of years, and it meandered and spread on the ground, merging with the snow and ice.